9th October 1976
by glory boots
Summary: Journal entry by Lily in her last year at Hogwarts


**9 October 1976**

The funniest thing happened today, I was just sitting around with the boys this afternoon, one of the few afternoons we have left when we can just relax. But that's still apparently too close for comfort to Remus, I swear lately he's just been putting me to shame, I've really been slacking off. Anyway as I was saying, Remus really puts in an effort when it comes to school, and to be honest sometimes the other boys leech off him a bit.

"Peter," Remus said from the stairs to the boys dorms, "I need my notes and I can't find them in, on or around your bag, bed and the room in general."

"I'll find them tomorrow." Peter replied without looking up from the chess board, slowly rubbing the side of his jaw as he contemplated his next move.

"But I need them tonight, I want to write my paper by tonight so that I can hand it in early and get the bonus points."

Peter didn't seem to be paying attention to Remus anymore and had placed his index finger on one of the knights considering slowly whether it was wise to move it.

I was leaning comfortably against James on the couch, reading for History of Magic. Not very well though… James had his arm around me and was absentmindedly drawing circles on my arm with his fingertips, which was pretty much relaxing me to the point where I wasn't concentrating very hard on my homework anymore. In fact I was pretty much just holding my book, halfway to sleep while he watched Peter and Sirius play chess.

I lifted my head from where it was resting on his shoulder, "What notes do you need, Remus? Maybe I could just lend you mine until tomorrow?"

"Thanks Lily, but its Ancient Runes." Remus said regretfully, as if he thoroughly wished it were another subject.

"Come on, Pete! I don't have all day!" Sirius said impatiently as Peter put a thumb on the knight as well, pinching its head between his fingers. Watching him play was like watching a person move in slow motion.

"Pete, why can't you find them for me when you finish the game?" Remus asked irritably.

Peter carefully placed his knight on a square and released it, sitting back still watching it thoughtfully.

"Finally!" Sirius cried leaning forward, eyes darting around the board assessing Peter's newest move.

Peter looked up at Remus, "I have a date."

"And you can't find my notes before then?"

"Well it's in forty five minutes, so I won't really have time."

"I can't believe you lost my notes! What about after your date." Remus asked with an exasperated sigh.

"Well, I don't know what time I'm getting back." Peter said turning back to the chess board as Sirius reached towards his rook.

"Pete, you dog, you." Sirius smirked glancing up briefly at his opponent.

"Pete, I have a lot to do this weekend and I need to get started on this assignment!"

"Why didn't you start it earlier?" Peter said in a light scolding tone, "You should know better than to leave things to the last minute, Remus."

"I've been asking you for these notes for the last two days!" Remus exclaimed.

"Oh yeah," Peter said a small smile appearing on his face, "Oops."

James chuckled.

"What's so funny?" I asked

"You don't get between Remus and his notes," James reached up and ruffled his hair with a smirk, "In fourth year I returned Remus some notes in a slightly less than reasonable state and I ended up with a beard of mould for three days."

"_Slightly less than reasonable_?" Remus said in disbelief, "It was a four foot roll of parchment, of what used to be a paper on Animagi that took me two and a half weeks to write. When you gave it back it folded itself into a frog and hopped away! I chased it for ten minutes before it jumped into the fireplace."

"C'mon! That was fourth year! You know it was impressive."

"Maybe it would have been if it wasn't my essay that needed to be handed in the next day."

"HA!" Sirius said moving his Rook forward smashing away Peter's knight, "Check!"

Peter looked calmly down at the board and moved his Queen forward which destroyed Sirius' Rook, seriously this was the quickest move Pete's made all afternoon. "Checkmate."

"Wha-What!How-?" Sirius sputtered, then his eyes hardened and he declared, "Rematch!"

"No! No rematch!" Remus objected, "Pete you find my notes right now!"

"I have to go get ready for my date. I'll find them later." Peter promised lazily, waving Remus off as he stood up and walked on up the stairs.

Remus stomped angrily after him, continuing his attempts at getting Peter to find his notes.

"Jamesie-boy?" Sirius sang turning to us.

"Yes Siri-poo?" James answered with a smile.

"Up for a match?"

"Sure," James said.

I reluctantly sat up and relinquished the comfy boy I'd been leaning on and settled myself so that my legs were curled up under me and grudgingly started to read my textbook again.

Remus came back downstairs holding something, muttering angrily as he stalked across the room towards the portrait hole.

"Hey, Remus, where you going?" James asked loudly, with a small frown.

Remus, however didn't answer and just left the common room, still grumbling.

"Huh. That was weird." James said shrugging it off, turning back to the board where one of Sirius' pawns had just attacked his.

"Pay attention, get your head in the game." Sirius scolded impatiently, "Come on, make a move Prongs."

"Hang on, don't get your knickers in a knot, princess!" James responded, "Gimme time to think."

"Ugh, you're just as bad as Pete." Sirius whined.

"Well he won, didn't he?"

"Don't' change the subject!"

I rolled my eyes and focused on my book again as they continued to attack each other.

Fifteen minutes later Remus came back and join us, looking a fair bit happier, maybe even smug.

"What's up with you?" I asked suspiciously.

"Nothing. How's the game going?" he asked, seating himself in between the two.

"It's okay, grandma here can't make up her mind though." Sirius said.

"You're right I can't, this is going to take me a while," James said, turning to Remus, "What moves can the pawn do again?"

"Merlin's beard! Make a move man! Grow a pair and take the plunge!"

"Are you always this impatient in chess?" I asked, peering over the top of my book.

"I'm not impatient, they're just unnaturally slow!" Sirius snapped.

"Maybe Chess isn't for you…" I said slowly.

"Hmmm… wow this next move is hard, I think I need something to eat, Lily you wanna come with me to the kitchens?"

"What! James you are not leaving this room until we finish this game! You hear me!"

"I just can't think on an empty stomach." James said rubbing his stomach with a pout, "C'mon, Lil, let's go."

I gave him an amused look as Sirius grabbed hold of his hair, "Don't you leave again! Last time we played and you said that you didn't come back for five hours!"

"I'll only be a few minutes." James shrugged.

"You said that last time too!"

"You know James, I'm a bit peckish, I think I'll join you." Remus said with a grin.

"Maybe we should bring Minnie a snack, she's probably hungry too." James said gravely, "Poor thing. She works so damn hard for us kids."

"So she does. We never really thank her properly do we? Maybe we should make her a cake. Hand made, no magic, I think she'd really like that."

"No!" Sirius howled.

"Ah McGonagall, the unappreciated hero!" James wiped a nonexistent tear from his face.

At that moment there was a strangled yell from the boys dorms. If a donkey and a baboon sang a duet, I suppose that would be the noise they would make… startling, slightly off putting and utterly primal.

Then someone thundered down the stairs, each footstep banging so loud it sounded like the person should have broken right through. Then Peter came into sight holding a piece of paper looking murderous.

"_You!"_ he accused, looking like he was having trouble speaking or putting his anger into a comprehendible sentence. He held a stubby finger out pointing at Remus.

"Me?" Remus asked, in mock confusion. "Pete, whatever is the matter?"

Peter lifted his other hand to show him the paper he was holding. In it was a picture of a hand holding a pair of rather grimy looking white socks. Even once in a while the hand would shake the socks around as if to tease Peter. Suddenly another hand came into the photo flipping off Pete.

"You took my lucky socks!" Pete said angrily jabbing his finger towards Remus again. James and Sirius burst into laughter both forgetting their chess game in order to either pound a fist on the table or slap a knee.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I wouldn't touch your socks!" Remus objected, looking all in all a little too innocent.

"That's your watch!" Peter said jabbing a finger at the hand in the picture.

Remus' eyes widened dramatically, "That bastard stole my watch!"

"Gimme my Lucky socks Remus!" Peter demanded.

"Lucky socks?" I asked, raising as eyebrow.

"In second year he had an extremely good day while wearing those socks." Sirius grinned.

"Well it didn't start out well," James corrected, "Pete had somehow managed to lock himself out of our dorms wearing nothing but those socks."

"Lucky him." I said sarcastically.

"That was 'cause you guys locked me out!"

"Hey don't blame me!" Sirius said holding his hands up in defense, "You were the one that fed Remus' textbook to a goat."

"I didn't feed it to a goat! The goat charged at me when I was changing so I threw it at the goat to defend myself."

"Where was this?" I asked.

"In our dorm." James shrugged.

"What the hell was a goat doing in your dorm?"

"We put it there." Sirius said slowly as if that were completely obvious.

"Why?"

"Pete's afraid of goats." Remus smirked.

"I still don't see how these socks are lucky." I said

"hmm… neither do I…" James said as he rubbed his chin in mock thoughtfulness.

"I guess those weren't the socks then." Sirius nodded gravely.

"That's not the story," Pete said in an exasperated tone.

"Pete, you're a little behind on the times, we've already figured that out." Sirius scolded.

"But I don't have time for this! Wendy's waiting for me and I need those socks!"

"Aww! Can't snookems get any action without his socky-wocky's."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked, slightly startled.

"_Where are my socks?"_ Peter demanded again pressing the palms of his hands against his eyes. "Remus so help me, you give me back my socks!"

"I dunno, Pete, I think you just lost them, they're probably hanging out with my notes."

"I have a ransom note for my socks!"

"Well technically, it's just a picture, mate. No demands have been made." Sirius said.

Peter looked at the picture again and gave a strangled cry. As if the sock kidnapper had heard them he was now holding the socks over a fireplace in the background, holding them dangerously close to the flame.

"That's that fireplace!" He yelled rushing over to it as if to search for the burnt remains of his beloved socks.

"It's a picture, mate. Not a movie." Remus said with a laugh, "Just 'cause the pictures doing it doesn't mean it happened."

Pete looked at the photo again and his jaw dropped. "Why are you putting them on?!"

"Ew, Moony. You know where those socks have been." James said wrinkling his nose.

Sirius snorted, "Yeah lying on his underpants for the last two months."

"Not to mention Eloise Small's bed." James said with a disappointed shake of his head. "I still say you could have done better."

Peter was turning red, "Alright you bastard!" he said turning back to the staircase, "I'll find you're damn notes!"

Remus smiled in a smug sort of way, "How nice of you considering your current sock crisis."

Peter growled and stomped up the stairs, muttering.

"Nice one, Moony." James congratulated

"Yes, yes. Well played, my boy." Sirius said stroking an invisible moustache looking pensive. "D'you guys reckon I should grow a 'stache?"

Remus and James groaned simultaneously, slumping back in their seats.

"Not again!" Remus moaned.

"What? C'mon! I could totally work a 'stache! A 'stache commands respect!"

"I think you'd have a better chance of getting respect by putting a tea cozy there." James said flatly.

"Slughorn has one!"

"He also has a gut the size of a small whale and I don't see you trying to grow one of those." James replied.

"Who says he's not trying, I've seen how much Sirius eats at dinner." I commented thinking of earlier this evening when Sirius had somehow managed to fit and entire potato in his mouth and not choke.

Peter came thundering back down the stairs, "Okay here!" he said in a sort of out of breathe kind of way and thrust a small pile of parchment at Remus, "There's your damn notes! Now can I _please _have my socks back?"

"Thank you for my notes Wormtail, but I honestly have no idea where your socks are." Remus said with a grin as he shuffled his notes around.

"_What?_" Peter cried. "What do you mean you don't know where they are?"

"Pete, I took that photo two years ago. I haven't touched your socks since then." Remus said calmly, looking rather pleased with himself.

James and Sirius were howling with laughter. I guess from the flabbergasted look that was now sporting Pete's face, you could really understand how they couldn't control themselves, to be honest I was doing my fair share of laughing too.

"Tough luck, mate!" Sirius laughed, holding his stomach.

"Pete, I think you're going to be late for your date, you probably want to go find your socks." Remus said as he dissolved into laughter as well, no longer able to keep a straight face as Peter sprinted from the room to his dorm.


End file.
